It is back again! This has been a little “unofficial” for a few days but it is back up on United’s Special Offers page with specifics on the deal and details of the valid dates.
United’s Discounted Awards
These discounts are not only for business class but economy class as well. They over a total of 10 zones of travel and can be a real benefit for using your United miles. If you already have travel booked during the dates of this promo, you may need to weigh the benefit of paying the fees to change the award ticket. If you are not an elite, you will need to pay a fee (see this page for the breakdown of the fees for various changes). That being said, even though the terms say it is not valid for previously booked travel, you may find a sympathetic rep if you call in to try and rebook at the lower price.
The prices below are for one way travel (double it for roundtrip redemptions). So, you can book these awards as one way or roundtrip. It is valid for travel through December 31, 2015 and the awards must be booked by February 28, 2015!
The chart of discounted award tickets using United miles
There are some great deals to be had here, in particular, the partner flights in business from the US to Europe. Paying 57,500 miles one way is only 7,500 miles more than the old United chart used to require and 12,500 fewer miles than what is normally required for partner flights. There are some great products on that route (including Turkish Airlines which I will be writing a review of shortly) and that is a really decent price for that. It is especially good considering it goes through the whole year.
Some of the “deals” are probably best left alone, even with the discount. It is really not a great deal to spend 25,000 miles one way to fly business class in Europe. It is not that great of a product (for the most part) and not something I would want to pay a total of 50,000 miles roundtrip for. The same goes for Europe to the Middle East (read this post for more information about that vs AA).
There are a lot of options here and availability seems to be pretty good. Of course, you may have a hard time securing business class flights to Europe in the summer, but at least you know that if you do find them, they will only cost 57,500 miles each way!
Details:
- Saver Award discount is only valid for air travel. Promotion period ends at 11:59 p.m. on February 28, 2015.
- Offer is valid for travel beginning on or after January 30, and completed on or before December 31, 2015.
- Discounted Saver Award is only valid for travel between the regions listed in the table above.
- A booking service charge may apply for travel booked less than 21 days before departure.
- To read all the terms and conditions, see this page.
Do you know if one can get deal for one ways also? Thanks.
Sorry, I updated the post to reflect that more clearly. Yes, those prices are for one way redemptions and you can book it as a one way or roundtrip.